Who Will Win?
As the year comes to a close again the Heisman race sees some familiar faces and some surprising new ones. After 11 games, ESPN has Mark Ingram ranked number one, Toby Gerhart from Stanford at two, C.J. Spiller of Clemson three, Tim Tebow four, and Colt McCoy five. To be completely honest I’m not sure if anyone would have predicted the current standings of this race before the season began.
The Heisman Trophy originated to be given to the best player in college football, but recently has changed to mean the best quarterback or running back on the best team. Not since Charles Woodson in 1997 has the award been given to someone who does not play either quarterback or running back. While I’m sure that there are a number of reasons why the voters decide to vote in this way I can imagine it’s primarily because its much easier to judge a QB or HB and notice how well they do since they are such high profile positions. For someone who plays or the defensive side of the ball it’s much harder to make an impact comparative to those on the offense.
So the question becomes, who is the best player in college football? There are, as with every year, quite a number of players who deserve to be mentioned in the Heisman talk, beyond the big name players on the big name teams. Among the top five who are considered by the ESPN experts, there are two new faces whom many may not consider suitable candidates. I’m referring to Toby Gerhart of Stanford and C.J. Spiller of Clemson. Right now they are both sitting above Florida’s Tebow, and Texas’ McCoy, and if both continue to perform at the current level that they have, neither one should finish lower than third.
Spiller may not be putting up league leading rushing stats, but has done well with what they’ve handed him. He only gets about 15 carries per game, but averages over 5 yards per carry and has a total of 894 yards and 6 touchdowns. What makes Spiller special is when you incorporate that he not only runs the ball well but also returns both kicks and punts, in which he has 4 total return touchdowns. He also is a threat in the passing game as well, totaling again 4 touchdowns. In total, C.J. Spiller has about 40% of all the touchdowns that the Clemson team has scored, (15 of 39) and is the largest reason why they are sitting at the top of the ACC Atlantic Division.
Toby Gerhart may be a new face to most of the country, but to those living on the west coast, he is only building to his already record-breaking career. After 11 games Toby Gerhart is the second leading rushing in all of college football with 1,531 yards, and among running back leads the FBS in touchdowns with 23. He averages over 5.4 yards per carry, has ran for at least 100 yards in his last 5 games, and has only not ran for 100 yards in two games. In those games he ran for 82 and 96 yards. Though Stanford may not be ahead in the Pac-10, they do have the 15th best overall offense, and the 10th best scoring offense in college football and Toby Gerhart is the driving force behind them, almost never being talked by the first defender.
Both of them are having outstanding seasons, but it appears as though this may be the year that Alabama finally has a Heisman winner. Mark Ingram is having a phenomenal season, and he is doing it on the number two-ranked team in the country. Alabama is number two in the BCS, undefeated, and are in the more difficult division of the SEC. He may not have the yards or touchdowns of Gerhart, and may not be the complete focal point like Spiller, but does have a YPC (yard per carry) average of 6.8, and 3 receiving touchdowns. So far in his 11 games this season, he has only not gained 100 yards in four of them. In all likelihood if Alabama should beat Florida in the SEC Championship Game they would make it into the National Championship Game, and it is safe to say that without Ingram leading the way, their chances would not be as good. He is the driving force behind the team, and seems to have to the ability to shed tackler after tackler time and time again. He may be only a sophomore, but is already showing up on the highlight reel every week.
Tim Tebow and Colt McCoy may be leading the number 1 and 3 teams this year, but they aren’t putting up quality Heisman numbers. Tim Tebow is falling vastly short of his Heisman year in ’07 with about half as many passing yards and less than half as many passing TD’s. He may be the star player on the number one team, but is in no way playing like a Heisman Trophy winner. Even his rushing stats are not even comparable to ’07. Colt McCoy's stats are also much worse in both rushing and passing this year in comparison to last year.
Tebow
Passing TD INT PCT Rushing AVG TD
’07 3286 32 6 66.9 895 4.3 23
’09 1730 12 4 64.6 604 3.5 10
McCoy
’08 3859 34 8 76.7 561 4.1 11
’09 2628 19 9 72.4 164 2.0 1
Even though neither of them are performing as well as they have in the past, they have done all that’s asked of them and have so far led their teams to undefeated seasons and have a very good chance of leading their teams to the BCS National Championship, and that may just make up for them not performing as well to the voters. They are both great players as well as leaders on two of the top three teams in the country.
Along with the top 5 leaders in the Heisman race, there are also as always a number of under the radar players who are proving why they should be invited to go to New York including Kellen Moore, Case Keenum, Ndamukong Suh, and Jacquizz Rodgers among many others, and it is nice to finally see someone besides the best players on the big name programs in contention for the trophy.
Written by RyanHutch, Monday November 23 2009
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2 comments
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I agree completely. No matter who Alabama plays, and how good or poor McElroy plays, Mark Ingram is just as effective game in and game out constantly running over defenders.
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Thing that I like about Ingram besides the fact that he is from Alabama,is that to me he has been the most constant player I think out there. Tebow, McCoy haven't always brought their A game to the table this year but Ingram has. I think the lowest production he had was 99 yards against Tennessee. I think that's the reason he is the front runner.